News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1887-01-06
THEY COLLECTED BAD DEBTS.
Bmt the Method Was Not Above ObiectICn
md Wns Closely Allied to BIaclsmail.
from the n. Y. SUM-

FLM1RA. N. "A number of enter
prising persons in this city organized
last winter what they styled the Elmira
Uniformed Collection Company. The
object of the company, as tersely ex-
pressed at the time of its organization
by one of its managers, was ''to make
life very unpleasant for the man who
owes small bills that he is able to pay,
but won't, and if there is one such who
doesn't come down after we have turned
all our batteries on him he's man
whom dynamite wouldn't rattle"
The methods of the company are not
original, but were imported from Can
ada, where a similar company had be-
come great success. Any person who
may desire the services of the Uni
formed Collection Company becomes a
SUBSCRIBER by the payment of 81. He is
then supplied with blanks, which he
fills out. and sends to his delinquent
debtors with a statement of their ac-
counts. The paper is simply request
on the delinquents to remit the amounts
of the Indebtedness within q certain
time, with the declaration attached that
failure to respond will result in their
cases being placed in the hands of the
| Uniformed Collection Company. When
the company receives q bill for colIec-
ton a collector is sent at once to the
debtor to solicit payment of the amount
| due. If the delinquent refuses to settle,
the collector dons badge of the COM
panv and calls again. This badge is a
SNOWY band on his hat, with the word
collector" inscribed on it in very plain
| letters. which are well calcnla ed to at
tract public attention. This collector
calls at various hours at the residence or
place of business, or both, of the obsti-
nate debtor. and If, after he has done
this, the money has not been paid and
the collector has not been too badly
thrashed by the debtor, a still more
prominent and suggestive insignia of Of
fee is attached to the collector, or to an
other one, according to circumstances,
and the process of extracting the amount
of the tardy bill renewed. The second
uniform consists of a conspicuous hat,
with a still more conspicuous band, on
which are printed very conspicuously
| the words, Collector of BAT Debts. ="
The orders given to the collector are
that he shall call daily on the debtor
and demand payment of the bill. The
theory Of the Uniformed Collection
Company is that these persistent calls of
a man labelled as the collector is will
soon attract the undivided attention of
| the delinquent's neighbors and asso-
ciates, and become the talk of the town,
to his disadvantage and constant annoy
ance, and that few men are so case
hardened to the opinions of others and
the gossip resulting that they can boldly
face more than half dozen calls from
the man with the suggestive hat-band
without surrendering and coming to an
arrangement satisfactory to the creditor
and the company, which deducts from
| 10 to Is per cent. from the amount of
the bill as commission for its services.
During the ten months this novel
business has been conducted III the
southern tier of counties, in each one of
which the company has local man ger,
It has resulted in the actual collection
of many thousands of dol ars in sums of
from So to $50, but its agents and col
lectors are anything but popular factors
in the business community. Several
collectors have been assaulted by irate
debtors upon whom they have persi t.
| emily thrust their presence, one or two
with very serious results. No one in
this State, however, seems to have
thought of or cared about testing the
legality of the company's methods, and
it has steadily extended its territory and
influence Two weeks ago it started an
agency in Wilkesbarre, Pa, and in a
few days its collectors had plenty of
business. But an obstinate and thick
skinned debtor of that city lost no time
IN idle dalliance with the uniformed col
lectors, but looked up the law and had
the man who called on him promptly
arrested on his next call, charged with
levying blackmail, State prison Of
fence in Pennsylvania. The collector
was held T0Tt trial, and the law is SO
plain that he will undoubtedly rye
time. The arrest of this man speedily
bloke up the company's business in
Wilkesbarre, and every uniformed col
lector ununIformed himself and made
trac back to York State. 1t is now
said that the same serious charge will
hold against the managers and agents of
the company in this State, and several
criminal suits are reported as about to
be begun against the parent concern by
sufferers in mind and pocket at its hands.